China, told of Ukraine move in advance, asked Russia to wait until Olympics ended: sources
- The closing Olympic ceremony was held on February 20 in Beijing; the Russian invasion of Ukraine started at dawn on February 24
- It is unclear whether the exchange took place in a direct conversation between Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin or through other senior channels, a source says
Senior Russian officials told their Chinese counterparts on February 4 that Moscow was going to conduct a military operation in Ukraine, according to two sources with ties to the White House who cited US intelligence. They added that China stopped short of supporting or opposing the move but asked Moscow to hold off until after the Beijing Olympics ended.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met that day with President Xi Jinping shortly before the opening of the Winter Olympics – their first face-to-face meeting in two years – and issued a 5,364-word statement describing their strategic partnership as one characterised by no “forbidden areas of cooperation”.
The statement, which did not mention Ukraine by name, also said the two authoritarian states would build a new global order, decried “certain states” trying to impose their own standards of democracy and expressed opposition to “further enlargement of Nato”.
It is apparent that what the Chinese understood in early February was very different from what transpired, one of the sources said, adding that it was wrong to say that Xi was “played” or “lied to” by Putin.
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Russia begins attack on Ukraine as US and Nato vow response
The source added that it was unclear whether the exchange took place in a direct conversation between Xi and Putin or through other senior channels. The source added that it was apparent from Beijing’s lack of warning to its approximately 6,000 citizens stranded in Ukraine in recent days – amid news that a Chinese national was wounded by gunfire – that it did not expect a major war.
